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Doomsday
Doomsday is a fictional character, a supervillain that appears in comic books published by DC Comics. The character first appears in Superman: The Man of Steel #17 (Nov. 1992), and was created by writer-artist Dan Jurgens. Doomsday is known throughout the world as the only supervillain to have successfully killed Superman. Comic History Doomsday was created in the distant past on Krypton, long before the humanoid Kryptonian race had gained dominance over the planet. It was a violent, hellish world where only the absolute strongest of creatures could survive (at the time, the world's dominant lifeforms were said to be the most dangerous creatures in the universe). In an effort to create the ultimate lifeform, the alien scientist Bertron sent an infant who was born in vitro—in order to make it develop resistance to the harsh environment—to the surface of the planet where it would be promptly killed by the vicious creatures inhabiting it. Its remains were harvested and used to clone a stronger version of it, a process repeated countless times as a form of accelerated natural selection. The agony of these deaths were recorded in his genes driving the creature to hate all life. Eventually, it gained the ability to adapt to overcome what killed it in its prior life without the need of Bertron's technology. "The Ultimate" hunted and killed all of the lethal creatures that then inhabited Krypton, including Bertron, who he had come to identify as hostile due to his research having "killed" him hundreds upon hundreds of times. The Ultimate escaped Krypton via a ship that regularly came to deliver supplies to Bertron - who wanted little contact with the planet's natives - and went on a killing spree across several planets. It began 245,000 years ago on Bylan 5, where Darkseid was about to wed a princess (in order to obtain that planet's chemical deposits for Apokolips' weapons factories). Just as the Ultimate and Darkseid were to meet in combat, Darkseid was forced to flee, as the battle had caused the planet's atmosphere to become toxic and therefore worthless to Apokolips. The Ultimate hitched a ride on an escaping shuttle, which crashed on Khundia. The warring Khundian clans united in order to build protective armor for a warrior named Kobald, who was hoped to survive long enough to force the Ultimate onto a rocket. Once the rocket was in space, the Ultimate killed Kobald and the resulting explosion sent him hurling through space. It next came across the path of a Green Lantern named Zharan Pel. The Ultimate took the Lantern's power ring and sensing the power of the Guardians of the Universe, made his way to them. Hundreds of Green Lanterns were sent to stop it and were killed. It continued to Oa where a single Guardian sacrificed himself in battle to defeat it. But the release of energies by the Guardian caused a tear in space through which the Ultimate fell. Eventually coming to Calaton, it tore that world apart for three years. With only the capital city left, the royal family combined their life forces into a single energy being, The Radiant. The Radiant killed the Ultimate with a huge blast of energy (laying waste to over a fifth of his planet in the process). In common Calatonian burial procedures, the Ultimate's seemingly-dead body was shackled and masked to prevent his spirit escaping into the afterlife, and he was shot into space due to his murders making him unworthy of burial on Calaton. Eventually, it landed on Earth, the force of the impact driving the casket deep underground. The Death of Superman In his first encounter with the Justice League of America, shortly after breaking free from underground, Doomsday defeated the entire team of superheroes in a matter of minutes, which in turn attracted the attention of Superman. Most notable is the fact that the creature fought the entire time with literally one hand tied behind his back, yet still was able to lay waste to all opposition and much of the surrounding area. The only Justice Leaguer who could even defend herself against Doomsday was Maxima. Also at that time, his naming occurred when League member Booster Gold stated how the rampage resembled "the arrival of Doomsday". The comment subsequently reached the broadcast media and thereafter led to the creature's accepted name. During his rampage, Doomsday took interest in billboards and television spots advertising violent wrestling competitions held in Metropolis, which appealed to his bloodlust and thus enticed the otherwise mindless creature to head towards the city. By counterattacking, Superman quickly found that his opponent's awesome power was a match for his own, and so he realized that if Doomsday actually reached Metropolis, the resulting battle could conceivably destroy the city and kill millions of innocent people. Simultaneously, Doomsday developed a strong desire to murder Superman in particular. That desire was later explained in the Hunter/Prey miniseries: from the agony of continually dying during his creation process, Doomsday developed in his genes the ability to sense anyone Kryptonian, plus an overriding instinct to treat any such beings as an automatic threat (however, it remains unexplained why Doomsday did not also react with this specific type of malice towards the Cyborg Superman, who at one point possessed Kryptonian DNA; it is at least an indication that his abilities are partly metaphysical). Death in Metropolis In the space of only a few issues of the Superman comic book series, Doomsday battled Superman in a titanic struggle, leading the hero to conclude that the creature would only continue to attack relentlessly and endlessly, with no urge for surrender. It all culminated in Superman (vol. 2) #75, where in an act of self-sacrifice, Superman refused to give up despite taking serious wounds and running low on stamina. The fight raged to the bitter end, where the two combatants each struck a simultaneous, fatal blow, leaving both of them lifeless in front of the Daily Planet building in Metropolis. In the aftermath of Superman's apparent death, no fewer than four super-beings appeared in his wake, two of them declaring themselves to be the "real" Superman. One of these four, a half-man/half-machine who greatly resembled Superman with cybernetic implants where he had sustained the greatest amount of damage from Doomsday's blows (and who would later become a dangerous villain called simply "The Cyborg") took custody of Doomsday's apparently lifeless body. After strapping the creature to an asteroid with an electronic device attached (a device later revealed, in the Hunter/Prey books, to be a backup of the Cyborg's essence), the Cyborg flung Doomsday into deep space, on a trajectory supposedly certain to never intersect any other planet. The issue closed with an image of an awakened and laughing Doomsday, still strapped to the asteroid but otherwise in good condition. Played By Dario Delacio *'Smallville (series)' - Bride, Legion, Infamous, Turbulence, Eternal, Beast, Doomsday Sam Witwer *'Smallville (series)' - Plastique, Toxic, Prey, Bloodline, Abyss, Bride, Legion, Infamous, Turbulence, Eternal, Beast, Doomsday Category:Kryptonian Category:Aliens Category:Villains